Daring Do and the Cloud Castle
by Epic4428Gamer
Summary: Daring Do goes to explore a new area in Equestria, and runs into the Cloud Castle, a castle made entirely out of reinforced cloud bricks, floating in the sky. I do not own MLP. Rated 'T' just to be safe.
1. Prologue (Daring Do POV)

Daring Do was flying high above the clouds, looking for a new adventure. She had on the usual green shirt and explorer hat that she got from her dad, as well as a knapsack in which she kept a map, a compass, a sleeping bag, and a few other things. She wasn't flying as fast as normal, because the pack she was carrying seemed to be a little too heavy. She silently cursed herself for bringing so many unnecessary tools, but she wanted to be prepared. Still, she thought, it shouldn't be this heavy. Making a mental note to check later what she had brought, she kept on flying.

She thought back to home, a place she hadn't been for quite some time. After her dad had disappeared on an expedition to a Jungle in Inponysia, she had been working at a museum as a tour guide to help get money for her family. However, there was one job her that her mom and little brother didn't know about. Hiding behind the excuse of late night shifts and any others she could come up with, she was an explorer who found and sold ancient artifacts to the museum. She thought of her family and how they were doing. She felt bad leaving them behind for such a long time, but she had been called to investigate a location that nopony had ever been to before, at least, not for thousands of years. It was said that a great treasure was to be found in the area.

She was thinking about what it could be, or where it could be, when suddenly she was engulfed in a shadow. Not a dark shadow, but a lighter one. Daring immediately recognized it as a cloud shadow, and wondered what cloud was that big. The shadow seemed to stretch on for miles and miles. She looked up, and gasped. Floating above her was a giant castle. But not just any castle. This castle was made out of clouds. She flew up to investigate, but could not break through the floor of the castle. "_Must be reinforced cloud brick…"_ She thought to herself. _"Well, if I can't break through, guess I'll just have to fly around until I find the entrance…" _And without another thought, she flew to the nearest wall and began flying the perimeter of the cloudy fortress.

**21 years ago**

"Dad, when will you be back?" Daring asked, curled up on her dad's lap, with tears in her eyes. "Hey, don't cry Dare, you're a big girl now. I'll be back soon, don't worry" Her father answered, wiping away her tears and running a hoof through her mane. Inside, he too was upset about leaving, but he had to be strong in front of Daring and her baby brother, who was sitting next to him bawling loudly. He hugged both children tightly, and then stood up. He walked towards the door of their small cabin, and then turned around. "Dare, can you come her for a minute?"  
Daring walked over. "Yes dad?" She looked at her father with a questioning look, as he opened up one of his suitcases.  
"I want you to have these." He said, handing her his explorer hat and a green shirt. Daring carefully took the clothing from her dad, and put them on.  
"Wow, thanks Dad!" Daring said, hugging him.  
"Daring Do," Daring immediately listened closely. Her dad only used her full name when it was important. "You're growing up now, and while I'm gone, I want you to take care of your brother, and help your mom with whatever she needs help with." Daring responded by saluting and saying "Yes sir!"  
"That's my girl!" Her dad chuckled hoof-bumped her. "I'll be back soon!"  
"Bye Dad!"  
"Bye Dare!"

After her Dad left, Daring did everything with her brother. She taught him everything she knew, and raised him as if she were his mother. When he was sleeping, she would help her mom with whatever she was doing. And if she ever had free time, she would go out exploring. She did everything she could to learn more about ancient history and great explorers. And that's the way life was in her family for 3 years. Every day, Daring would wonder when her dad was coming home. And every day, she lost a little hope that he would ever come back. And then, one day, her family received the fateful letter. On the expedition, Daring's father had been lost. The group of explorers had found a strange temple. Since it was nearing night, they set up camp near it. When they awoke, the dust yellow Pegasus was nowhere to be found. As if Celestia herself was crying, it began raining. Daring's cabin was filled with nothing but the constant sound of crying.

Daring knew she needed to earn some bits to keep her family supported, however her mother would not take the risk of Daring becoming an explorer like her dad. This upset Daring, however she did not complain. She knew her mother's reasons and concerns. She began working as a tour guide in The Museum of Equestrian History, but was hardly making enough money to support her family. The museum knew her father, and offered her a job as an explorer. They made an agreement to never tell anypony about it, and Daring Do became a secret adventurer.

Her father's skills had been passed down to her, and she quickly became a great explorer. She traveled to many places, and discovered many things. Quickly, she became the #1 supplier for ancient artifacts to the museum. She earned enough money to support her family with necessities, and have enough left to buy luxuries as well. Eventually, her little brother caught on. As he grew, he began to wonder where Daring was going, and he eventually begged her to tell him. Seeing that he wouldn't stop asking until Daring told him where she had been going, she gave up and told him. She made him promise to never tell anypony, and he became the second person to know, not counting herself. And he kept his promise, and never told anypony.

** Hello everypony! I hope you have enjoyed the prologue to a new story, Daring Do and the Cloud Castle! Super huge thanks to 4428Gamer for being AWESOME and helping me out with this story! Also thanks to him for letting me use his idea of QotC (Question of the Chapter). Be sure to check out his account, and read all of his amazing work! He will be doing Daring's little brother's point of view in this story, so the chapters written from Daring's POV I wrote, and her little brother's POV is going to be written by 4428Gamer. **

**QotC: Do you have any younger siblings who you look after?**


	2. Prologue (Bravely Blue POV)

_I can't believe it! I'm finally doing it! I'm finally going on an adventure with my big sis!_ I was hidding in her backpack, which was pretty cramped, so I had to take out the sleeping bag. But I don't think that she would really mind that much because how could she even sleep with how exciting this adventuring stuff was! Along with takin he sleepin bag out, I had the zipper opened up just enough so I could peek out of the hole. We had to be so high up! If there were any animals under us, there was no way I could see them! I silently smelled the fresh air that was higher up in the air. It was so much better than the air at the ground. Of course I already knew that because it was kind of obvious, but I didn't expect it to be this good!

With how all this was going so far, and we weren't even at the adventure part yet, I could tell why Daring loved to do this! I wonder why mom doesn't like adventuring. I mean, dad was an adventurer. At least before he went to live with all the famous explorers. I hope I get to see him someday. I bet that's why Daring does all this adventuring stuff! That way she can join dad with all the other famous explorers! Well now I'm going to join her! Doesn't she know that I wan to see dad too?!

While I kept imagining seeing dad, I saw that we were flying around a giant pile of clouds... No wait, it wasn't a pile of clouds. It was- WOW! A cloud castle! _Oh my Celestia, this is so cool! _I had to try all I could from bouncing around in Daring's bag, I was so excited! This kind of stuff was just like Daring had told me!

* * *

**3 Years Ago**

"DD?" I tried to get Daring's attention. Since I was really little back then, I always called Daring Do DD. Actually, I still do. It's so much fun to see her groan at the name.

She sighed and turned to me, talking quiet so mommy wouldn't wake up. "Yes Blue?" She asked.

"What are you doing?" I asked. It was really late at night and she was packing up stuff into her backpack. I just woke up because I was thirsty, so when I went to the kitchen with my 'bravey blanky' as me and mommy called it, I saw DD packing some food and other things.

"Where are you going?" I asked, turning my head to the side.

"I'm... Going camping..." She told me slowly.

"Camping? Can I come?" I asked her.

"No Blue, you can't come." She told me as she closed up her bag.

"But-" I tried to ask her something else, but she stopped me.

"Sorry Blue. I just can't let you come okay? Now just go back to bed now okay? And whatever you do, don't tell mom. I'm uh... Getting her a gift." She told me.

It was kind of confusing. "A gift? Are you going camping at a store?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah. A store that has something really cool if you look hard enough. Now hurry and get back to bed, and I might even get you a gift." She said, rufflin up my mane.

"Okay! Bye DD, good luck camp storing!" After that, I ran back to my room, wanting to go back to bed so I could get a gift too.

* * *

After around half a year, Daring had gone camp storing a couple of times. Every time mommy was worried, I always told her, "It's okay mommy. Daring said that she just went out to get us gifts! I can't wait for this one!" I would always say. And since there was a really great store a ways away from where we lived, me and mommy always believed that.

But after a few times, I found out the truth. One night I woke up to some stuff hitting the floor. Since mommy was always a heavy sleeper, it was up to me to find out what the noise was so I could fend off the scary monster that could've been in our house.

As soon as I got to the living room though, I saw that it was just DD. She had some stuff spread out around the floor, and in front of me was this old looking paper. I looked at it, and saw that it looked like a treasure map.

"DD?" She turned, and looked surprised to see me looking at a map. She quickly came and took the map, but I already saw what it was. "Why do you have a pirate map?" I asked her. If she was going camp storing, then why would she need a pirate map?

"No reason. Now go back to bed." She said trying to get me to go back to bed, but I knew she was hiding something this time.

"No!" I said, getting angry. I always hated it when she tried to force me to go to bed. "Why do you have a pirate map?" I asked again.

"I can't tell you that Blue." She said as she quickly packed the rest of her stuff in her bag.

"But I wanna know! Why do you have a pirate map?" I asked again. I wasn't giving up, because I really wanted to know.

"I'm no telling you." She said.

But I knew how to make her talk. I jumped to her, grabbing onto her front hoof and not letting go. "Please tell me! Please, please, please, please..." I kept saying 'please' over and over until she would tell me, and I wasn't giving up.

Around a bagillion 'pleases' later I was still asking, hanging onto her hoof and not letting go. Either she was going to tell me, or mommy was going to wake up. She knew that part though and sighed.

"Fine!" She said through her teeth, sounding mad. I still hung onto her hoof, not letting her go. "If I tell you what I'm really doing, you have to promise me you won't tell any pony else." She told me.

"Not even mommy?" I asked looking up at her.

"Especially mommy." She told me.

I knew that it was gona be hard to keep it from mommy, but I knew I could do it. "Okay DD, I promise." I told her with a smile.

And at that moment, I understood why she always left. She went to go on adventures like she and mommy said daddy did. That way, all of us could be one happy family. I guess she didn't want mommy to know because mommy didn't want DD to have to worry about any of it. But after she told me, she made sure that I would never ever tell any pony her secret. And I was the only one to know, because I kept my end of the deal and never ever told any pony about it.

**What's up every pony! I hope you enjoyed this prologue just as much as you enjoyed EpicPie1's prologue! I'm really happy that she let me work with her to help make this great story! And I can't wait to see how it all plays out! And like EpicPie said, I'm going to be doing Bravely Blue's POV of this story as Pie does Daring Do's. Also, I will be doing QotC's (Question of the Chapter's) at the end of mine as well, so I hope you all enjoy this story as much as I am about writing it! And I will see you all in two chapters!**

**QotC: Do you have a sibling or family member you look up to?**


	3. Seperation

After several hours of flying, Daring found the entrance to the castle. It was nearing night, so she opened her backpack to find her sleeping bag, but instead found her little brother.  
"Hi, DD!" He exclaimed, a huge grin spreading across his face.  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" Daring yelled at him.  
"Coming with you on an adventure! It's going to be so much fun!" He replied enthusiastically. If he was upset about Daring yelling at him, he didn't show it.  
"Do you know how worried your mother probably is right now?" Daring asked him, calming down a little.  
"I left her a note saying you were taking me camping!" He replied, still grinning.  
"No way, Blue. We're going home right now."  
"Aw, c'mon DD! Look what we… er, you, found!" He had a point. Daring knew it was dangerous, but he was growing up. She couldn't hold him back for the rest of his life. She argued with him a for a little while longer, but he had his mind made up. Eventually, she agreed.  
"Fine, you can come." Bravely immediately began jumping in circles around Daring.  
"ADVENTURE! ADVENTURE! ADVENTURE! ADVENTURE! ADVEN-" Daring stopped him.  
"Yes, adventure." She said, chuckling slightly. She walked over to her backpack to take out the sleeping bag, and found it wasn't there.  
"…Blue, where's the sleeping bag?"  
"Sorry DD, there wasn't enough room for me, so I threw out the biggest thing." Daring's brother responded innocently. Daring face-hoofed. _"At least were on a giant cloud…"_ she thought to herself. Meanwhile, Bravely had begun jumping in circles again cheering loudly and shouting things like, "YAY! ADVENTURE! TREASURE!" Daring sighed. It was going to be a long night.

Daring woke up with her brother standing next to her, looking down with a huge grin.  
"Can we go explore now? Please Please Please PLEASE!"  
"Yes, we can. Remember, stay close to me. Never wander off on your own. And don't touch ANYTHING." Daring responded. She couldn't help but grin at the thought of what treasures she might uncover in this strange building.  
"Alright, stay close to you and don't touch anything. Got it, let's go!" Her brother ran forward, then remembered he needed to stay close to his sister, and ran back to her. They entered the castle side by side, and began walking down a long hallway. It wasn't dark in the castle, due to the fact that the light from the sun shined through the clouds. Daring looked around, amazed at how much work ponies must've put into making this giant castle. Bravely, however, wasn't amused. He walked slowly, his head and ears drooped down, waiting for something exciting. As the two neared the end of the hallway, the noticed a door. Daring opened it, and without thinking, walked through. She triggered a tripwire, and two darts shot out of the wall on either side of her. Both hit her wings, and she fell to the floor. Bravely rushed forward to help her.  
"Oh my Celestia, Daring are you okay?" He asked, helping her stand up.  
"Yeah, but my wings, they feel funny." Daring responded weakly. She tried moving her wings, but she couldn't. "I guess I'm not going to be using these." They began walking forward, although more carefully than before. Eventually, they got to a maze. Daring instructed Blue to stay behind her, and she began an attempt to navigate her way through the maze. She took a long string from her backpack, and used it to keep track of where she was going. Eventually, she came to a wall. _"Dead end…" _She thought to herself. She turned around, and Blue was gone. She immediately went into panic mode and began calling out his name as loud as she could. She heard footsteps, and went to their source, hoping to find her brother. When she did, she was relieved to see he was okay. He was a little shaken up from getting lost, but he was okay. She hugged him, and told him to stay right next to her. They wandered through the maze, and eventually found the exit. They cheered as they walked through, glad to be out of the place where they had no idea where they were going. Just then, Bravely walked on a trapped stone, and the floor fell away in front of him. He fell in, and screamed as he fell. Daring immediately went to fly down to save him, however she realized her wings were useless. She heard a loud thud as her brother hit the floor.  
"BRAVELY! ARE YOU OKAY!?" She yelled. To her relief, he responded.  
"YEAH, BUT I'M SCARED. I CAN'T GET UP TO YOU. THE CLOUD CUSHIONED MY FALL, SO I'M NOT HURT." He shouted back up to her.  
"ALRIGHT, IS THERE ANYTHING DOWN THERE!?"  
"A HALLWAY. THAT'S IT." Daring gulped. She knew what she had to do, and all she could do was hope that he was like his father.  
"OKAY. I WANT YOU TO FOLLOW THE HALLWAY. I'LL MEET YOU AT THE END OF IT. BE CAREFUL!"  
"I WILL. SEE YOU AT THE END OF IT! If I make it…" He whispered the last part so Daring couldn't hear him.

Daring, looked down into the pit. All she could see was black. _"I hope he's going to be okay…" _She thought to herself. She knew she had to continue there. If there was a way for them to reunite, it would be forward. She kept on walking, although very slowly. If she were hurt, trapped, or worse, Bravely would have no chance of survival on his own in here. She checked every cloud brick, looked in front of her hoof every time she took a step, and randomly jumped or ducked ever so often just to be safe. She began to become paranoid. She once heard a drip of water and almost touched the ceiling. She inspected every shadow, and looked behind her back every 10 seconds. _"No." _She thought to herself. _"I have to stay strong. I have to get through this. Or else…" _She shuddered at the thought of what might happen.

**Here's my second chapter, hope you liked it! Things have certainly taken a turn for the worst… Or have they? Will Bravely survive? Will Daring jump out of her own skin the next time she hears a drip of water? Keep reading and find out!**

**QotC: If you were in Daring's place, what you do?**


	4. Running Water

_Okay Bravely... You can do this... Everything's going to be just fine... _As I kept trying to calm myself down, I kept walking down the hallway. There were torches on the side plus we were in a CLOUD Castle, so it wasn't dark, but the fire moving all the shadows was kind of creepy. Still, I kept going down, nervous that I was alone.

Then I stopped in place. _Why am I nervous?!_ "This is stupid! I don't have anything to worry about! DD said that she'll find me when I get to the end of the hallway, and that's just what I'm gonna do!" I said to myself, stopping the whole scardy-cat thing. Mommy always said that there's nothing to fear but fear itself! Now I don't know what fear really looks like, but I don't see it anywhere! All I see is a bunch of fire, shadows, and nothingness. Nope, no fear here.

"I'm coming DD!" I said, wanting to get back to her. I kept running forward, knowing the sooner I get out of here, the sooner I'll see DD again.

But as I kept running, I tripped on a piece of brick that was sticking out of the ground. "Ow... That hurt." I said as I got up.

I turned around and glared at the brick that was sticking up. "Stupid brick! Why do you have to be sticking out of the ground?!" I yelled at it, mad.

Then it started to go back in the ground, shaking a little as it did. "HA! Yeah, you better go back down Mister Brick! You don't wanna mess with me!" I said, laughing. To prove my point, I jumped on it a few times, telling it who was boss.

After a few jumps, I got off of it and went on my way. It learned its lesson I'll bet. But as I started to go back down the hallway, I heard something. Something that was starting to get louder.

I looked down the hallway where I was, and saw the torches start to go out. Each torch that went out being closer to me. I squinted my eyes a little and saw water. A giant amount of it to. It was enough to cover up the whole hallway, and it was going so fast that it was almost as if it was filling up a river. A river that I was standing in the middle of.

"Oh no... No, no, no!" I said, realizing that the giant flow of water was coming right towards me. Not questioning it or watching it, I turned and started to run down the hallway, now scared for my life. I couldn't see any way out of this.

"I'M SO SORRY MISTER BRICK! I DIDN'T MEAN TO CALL YOU STUPID! IN FACT, YOU'RE A REALLY SMART BRICK FOR SENDING THIS WATER AFTER ME TO MAKE ME STOP JUMPING ON YOU! BUT COULD YOU BE A NICE SMART MISTER BRICK AND PLEASE STOP THE WATER?! I LEARNED MY LESSON!" I called out to the brick that I stepped on... Over and over again. But it wasn't my fault, it was the brick's fault! I didn't know that this would happen if I made fun of that brick.

After a few seconds, the water didn't stop. That brick was really mad at me because even after apologizing and asking politely, the water wouldn't stop.

And to make it worse, mister brick wasn't done with me yet. Not only did the water keep coming towards me, but some of mister brick's brick buddies started to fall out, leaving holes for me to fall out the castle. I guess I was at the very bottom of the castle because I didn't see any rooms under me.

I started going around the holes in the floor, but the more I ran, the more I saw that there were fewer places to stand on. But there was still a path I could run across, so I kept going.

But after a little more running, the path up ahead collapsed completely, leaving me running away from the water and towards a hole that led straight down to the ground below the castle.

I went wide-eyed as I kept running, seeing how I was stuck. I couldn't think of anything else to do. There weren't any hallways that I could go down anywhere else. The water wasn't slowing down either, almost like it ignored the holes in the floor.

I kept thinking back to how I got into all this, remembering how I thought joining DD on the adventure would let me see dad again. And also how much DD didn't want me to come. Now I know why. Not ten minutes of being on my own, and I'm already in danger. I don't even see a way out of this! The other side of the pit was to far for me to fly over, and I wasn't strong enough to fight the water.

I looked up to try to catch my breath a little bit more, getting exhausted. But when I did, I saw that above me was a hole in the hallway right above me.

"Okay! You can do this Blue!" I said, getting ready. The hole wasn't that far away, so I had to act fast.

So without thinking, I jumped up towards the hole in the ceiling, able to jump as high as halfway since the ceiling was sort of low. But I knew if I was going to make it, I had to fly.

The most flying I've ever done was like just a hover five feet off the ground for a minute. At least, that's what mommy said I did anyway. But now I had to fly up five feet when I was already starting to fall a little. Well, here goes nothing.

I opened up my wings and flapped them as hard as I could once. I was able to feel myself fly up at least a foot, but I knew I still had a little more to go. So I flapped my wings again and again, trying to put everything I had into each flap.

After the eighth flap of my wings, I saw that I had my head sticking out of the hole, and I could feel the water brushing past my tail. Without thinking, I put both my front hooves on the side of the hole and bit my teeth into the side too, using all three of these things to try to lift myself up since I wasn't going to fly any higher with my wings.

I kept trying to pull myself up, now feeling the water reach my hind legs. My wings were still a little tired out from me using them more than I ever had, but I flapped them just a little to help me get up.

When I finally did climb my way up to the next floor, I panted and stayed on the floor, to tired to stand up just yet.

As I heard the running water below me keep going, but not going any higher to where I was, I couldn't help but be amazed at what I just did. "I...I did it... I DID IT!" He yelled out jumping to his feet.

I then turned right around and looked down in the hole. Water filled to the top and was flowing, but it wasn't going any higher so I was safe. "HA! Take that you STUPID BRICK! Yeah you heard me! YOU ARE A STUPID BRICK! Nothing can stop this pony! Right here! I dare the next brick that wants to mess with me to come out right now and try to get me!" I yelled out in the hallway, feeling more alive than ever! I feel like I could take on a Timberwolf if I had to!

As I started to walk down this new hallway, watching where I stepped way more than before, I realized something. "Wait... What about DD? I was supposed to meet her at the end of that hallway..." I turned and looked back at the hole, wondering just what I was supposed to do. I was pretty sure that I was still lower in the castle than DD was, but I still don't know how I was supposed to get to her. Or how to tell her where to find me.

Than I remembered that she told me to just follow the hallway. Yeah, it wasn't the same hallway, but I could still go down it. Besides, DD will understand why I went to a different hallway right? Or... Or will I be lost in here?! Because of what I did, will I be lost in this castle forever?! Will I ever see DD again?! What about mommy?! What about me ever wanting to see daddy?!

At that point, I knew I was going nuts about nothing. So I slapped myself as hard as I could, knowing it usually worked because I saw a lot of other ponies slap their friends whenever they were yelling about nothing. And it did work! I calmed down right down, and remembered what I had to focus on. And that's finding DD!

And I realized that I'm even closer to finding DD than before! Since she's higher up, I just got closer by going up a level. I don't know how far I fell down, so I need to try to go up even more if I'm gonna find her.

So with that all in mind I started walking again, more confident than before too! Who knows, maybe I'll even beat DD to the treasure! She'll be so mad when I do! I can't wait to see the look on her face when I beat her there!

As I walked, I almost stepped on one of Mister Stupid Brick's brothers. I stopped before I did and went over it, now remembering that this was still real and still dangerous. I stopped walking around like I could fight anything off and went more carefully forward.

"Oh DD, I hope you're having as much luck as me right now..." I said quietly as I went forward. And as I did, I saw that it was starting to get darker from the other side of the clouds. How long was I walking down that hallway anyway? It was still kind of sunny out, but it was started to get to the point where you could tell it was getting darker.

It was really spooky to be all alone and it start to get dark, and I shrunk down a little from it all. "And I hope you aren't as scared as I am right now..." I added, actually really scared for once in my life.

* * *

**Well, hopefully whatever happens to our two adventurers won't be too much for them to handle. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I look forward to seeing you all in the chapter that's after EpicPie's. Until then, goodbye every pony!**

**QotC: What's the most difficult to survive ancient trap you can think of?**


	5. The Tomb

Daring walked slowly and carefully, watching her every step. The sound of dripping water had gotten louder and more frequent, and she watched for anything that might cause the room to fill with water. Then, she heard a loud splash, and then the sound of rushing water. Without thinking, she ran straight ahead, as fast as she could. The heard tiles falling away beneath her, and she continued to sprint as fast as she could. When she reached the end of the hallway, she looked back. Everything behind her was in perfect condition. No water, no missing floor tiles, nothing out of the ordinary. She slapped herself, realizing that it must have all been her imagination. She walked through the door at the end of the hallway, looking carefully for traps. Finding none, she continued into the large, dimly-lit room and gasped at what she saw.

The room was illuminated by torches hanging from the walls, casting eerie shadows over the ground. Skeletons of what looked like ancient ponies lay scattered across the floor. She shuddered, wondering what had happened. At one end of the large room sat what looked like a large, circular doorframe. She needed to find a way to open it, but she didn't know how. She sat down to think, and began worrying for her little brother. Was he okay? What if he got stuck, or lost? What if- No. She had to think the best. She had to make herself believe that he was okay, and would stay that way. She picked up a random brick lying on the floor and began talking to it. "Oh, this is great. I lost my little brother, I don't know how to get out of this room, and I'm most likely going to turn into one of those." She gestured towards the skeletons with her free hoof. "Why can't my life be simple, like yours Mister Brick?" _"Oh great. I've completely lost it. I'm talking to a brick for Celestia's sake!" _She threw the brick across the room. It landed in the corner, and the floor began to shake.

"IM SORRY MISTER BRICK! I DIDN'T MEAN TO THROW YOU OR OFFEND YOU OR ANYTHING! I JUST WANT TO GET BACK TO MY LITTLE BROTHER! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" She screamed. She knew it was silly. But, then again, this place wasn't exactly normal. As if the brick was responding, flames began shooting upwards from the floor, encasing Daring in a cage of raging infernos. She looked around for an escape. Finally, she saw another brick on the floor. Hoping he wouldn't get mad at her too, she threw him at the opposite wall. He hit the floor with a loud thump, and water poured out of the ceiling and doused the flames. The water then disappeared down a drain in the floor. "Phew, that sure was close." She sighed to herself. She needed to be way more careful. She examined the room closely now, and found that on each wall there were carvings. Hidden in pictures of war, villages, death, and life, she found numbers. Upon inspecting the door, she found a place where a dial would be turned to enter a combination of 38 numbers. Walking along the walls, she located each and every number. She then sat down in front of the door, and tried putting them in the order she found them. Immediately, the room filled with a foul smelling gas. She began to feel light headed. Knowing that she had a limited amount of time to figure the combination out again before she passed out, she studied the pictures with the numbers in them. Some of them looked familiar. And then suddenly she knew what to do. The pictures were events in history, and she had to put them in order. Then, in the order the pictures were in, she would have to put the numbers in that order. She immediately got to work, however it was difficult. She was getting even more light-headed as she worked. Finally, the door opened, creaking loudly. She stumbled through, and after about 10 steps, blacked out.

She awoke, surrounded by nothing but white. She panicked, and began running around looking for an exit. But wherever she was, there were no walls. There was nothing. She saw a yellow light, and ran for it. As she approached, she saw a familiar figure. "Celestia? Is that you?" She asked, with unease and fear in her voice.  
"Indeed." Celestia responded. Her voice echoed quietly throughout the nothingness.  
"Celestia, am I dead?"  
"Not quite. You are simply in a dreaming state caused by the poisonous gasses. I asked Luna to grant me access to your dream because I feel we need to talk."  
"Okay… about what?"  
"I feel you slipping away from the Earth, off to a dream land of your imagination. You have become stressful and paranoid. Tell me what has happened." Daring hesitated. This was Celestia. Shouldn't she already know?  
"I… I lost my brother in this mysterious castle. Ive been trying to find him, but everything is making me think about him. Making me hope he's safe."  
"I see. However, you need to overcome this fear if you are going to ever find him. You have to believe he can do this by himself.  
"But he can't! He's just a little kid!"  
"He's growing up. He can't do this alone, but he can do it if he has something to work for. And he has something to work for. You." Daring began to protest, but stopped. Celestia was right. She took a deep breath.  
"Okay."  
"Are you ready to go back?"  
"Yes. Thank you Celestia. Tell Luna I said thank you aswell." Celestia simply nodded in response. All of a sudden, Daring's vision became blurry. She woke up lying on the floor, the terrible graveyard behind her. And her goal in front of her. Because now, she realized, she was looking for a different kind of treasure. Her treasure was a certain somepony named Bravely Blue…

**Welp, there you have it guys! Daring still has her skin, but those skeletons sure don't! *crickets*  
Okay, fine, I'll stop making lame jokes.**

**Shoutout to ****Christ's Disciple****, glad you like the story so far! Also shoutout to all the readers! You guys are awesome! Give yourself a pat on the back, and go treat yourself to a well-deserved cookie!**

**Until next time, peace!  
QotC: Which trap do you think is deadlier: Cage of fire or poisonous gas?**

**P.S. Im starting something called RQ. RQ stands for Random Question. This isn't like the QotC, because there won't be one every chapter, and the question will mostly be random and not really have anything to do with the chapter. So, I present to you, the very first RQ!**

**RQ: Do you like bananas?**


	6. Rise Sir Bravely Blue!

"Okay... I've been going down this hallway... For like two hours!... I need a break!" I complained in between breaths as I fell to the floor. It was starting to get a little dark too, which wasn't helping me see where I was going.

And since busting up a floor, this hallway had so many turns and stairs that went up and down so many times! All this adventuring was really exciting, especially with the traps and when you got passed them, but all these hallways were SO BORING!

Seeing as how it was so dark and how tired I was getting, I guessed that it was night-time. I closed my eyes, really tired from everything that had happened today. I was safe for now anyway right? So I would be perfectly fine until I started going again.

But before I could fall asleep, something seemed wrong. Or should I say, smelled wrong?

"Ew! What's that smell?!" I said, getting up and covering my nose with my hooves. I didn't know what that smell was exactly, but it was so bad I coughed a little at the smell of it.

I stood up, knowing that I was not getting any sleep around here. The smell was just getting worse. So much worse that I was starting to get all loopy by smelling it. So I started walking again, this time to get away from that smell.

But as I took a few steps I noticed that it was coming from above me. But the only other pony here was DD. There was no way she made that smell, so I guessed that it had to be one of mister brick's friends that were trying to hurt her or something with the smell.

The more I tried to think about what could be happening to DD, the more I thought how she could be hurt or something. How the smell could make her so sick or something, that she couldn't stand it and made her run away from it. But if she did that, would she even know where she was going? What if she got lost and ended up falling through the castle through a hole like I almost did?!

That's when I realized what I was doing. I was getting all crazy about what COULD happen! There was no way anything like that would happen to her! I mean, if i can get through all of this, than DD will probably get through it twice as fast! So I have nothing to worry about!

So I cleared my mind of any of that and started walking away. And after walking for a few more minutes, I saw some light up ahead. More light than the torches in the hallway. I squinted my eyes, now walking towards the light instead of just trying to walk away from the smell. And when I finally got to the light, I couldn't believe my eyes at all.

I was in a big room with shelves surrounding the walls. And the room was definitely bigger than the hallway, looking to be around three or four hallways tall. It was a room that was shaped like a tower, with steps that went all the way to the top.

And at the top floor was a big red door, that looked all fancy. Around the top floor was four giant suits of armor standing at attention towards this circle in the floor. An around all the shelves that were on the first three floors were rows and rows of other suits of armor. Some were really small and my size too!

And at the bottom floor where I was at was a plaque. A plaque with some writing on it. As I went over to it, this is what I read out loud:

_One hundred soldiers, only one stands true._

_To be the right soldier, the armor goes on you._

_Stand at attention at the circular base._

_Pick the wrong armor and fall on your face._

"FALL ON MY FACE?!" I looked up from the ground floor and saw that the 'circular base' was in the middle of the floor on top. And that the base was wierd looking from underneath. Because it had a line that went down the middle and the sides of the base had hinges on them. Seeing all of this, I realized what it meant by me falling. If I choose the wrong armor, I would fall all the way through and land back down on the first floor. And since I couldn't fly without really heavy armor to begin with, I wouldn't make it.

I looked back at the plaque, seeing that it had one more thing to say.

_The Ancient Pegasi War is where the armor drew its hate._

_And the armor's size is for a colt at the age of eight._

"Age of eight?... Wait, I am eight! I can do this!" I said, suddenly getting exited. Then I looked around and saw that there were at least twenty suits of armor that fit me. "Oh... right..." I said, not as excited now.

So I started looking around the three floors, looking for the suits of armor. But they were all so heavy! Some were made of gold, some of silver, some of really thick iron, all of them were really heavy.

They were really cool looking though! Each of them looked like they could belong to a really important group of guards. After looking at them all, I couldn't find out which one would be the right one. So I went ahead and checked the four main suits of armor at the top floor.

But that just made it even more confusing because they all had different types of armor. They were all made for pegasi, but they were made of different materials and patterns. One was really heavy-looking gold armor. Another was light and moveable iron armor. And the other two were light and made out of pure diamonds and silver. They all looked really fancy and cool looking, but all different.

So it didn't help anything. Out of all twenty of the suits that were my size, four of them were gold, seven of them were iron, and seven more were made out of just silver. Which only left two more, both of them being really different.

One was made of gold and silver, with diamonds that covered the shoulders. and other gems which made it really cool looking. It was almost really hard to ignore.

And the other armor was different from everything else entirely. It wasn't made of iron, or gold, or silver, or even gems. It was only made of really padded leather and straps. It was still my size, but it was the only thing that wasn't metal or anything.

But even though it was really unique, I kept going back to the one with all the gems, and gold, and silver that was on it. It was really hard to ignore, and I couldn't just ignore it, so I tried to get it.

There was only one thing wrong with it though. It was REALLY heavy! The second I tried to move it, it wouldn't budge one bit. I tried to buck it off the podium it was on. I tried to push it off. Everything I tried wouldn't work. I wasn't strong enough to lug this annoying heavy suit of armor.

That's when I realized something. _Of course I couldn't budge this suit of armor! No one ever expected an eight year old pegasus to move something this heavy!_ By then I remembered what that plaque said too.

_And the armor's size is for a colt at the age of eight._

It wasn't just the fact that it would fit. I also had to be able to use it! And I could not use this really heavy thing of armor no matter how hard I try. Actually, I probably wouldn't be strong enough to carry around a gold, iron, or silver suit of armor either! Out of all twenty of these, there was only one suit of armor I would be strong enough for, and that was the leather armor!

So without even thinking twice, I jumped for the armor, getting it off the podium. I quickly got it on and ran up to the top floor, seeing all four of the statues in their armor looking at the circle in between them all.

Gulping at the sight of the armor, I stood up to the circular base and stood at attention just like the plaque told me to. I held my head up high with no fear, stood my ground like I was ready for anything, and puffed my chest out to make me look even tougher than I already was.

And it worked. Instead of the floor giving out under me like I thought a few times, the statues all moved at once, making two rows that stood at attention as the big red doors opened up.

I smiled and started going in between the two rows of armor, looking to see that they were only statues. Why and how they moved was really confusing, but I didn't really want to know. If I stayed around to question it, something bad might've happened. So I just kept on walking by.

By the time I got through the door, it closed right behind me. I looked back, but saw that it wasn't being opened again. I took in a deep breath and looked around where I was now, seeing that I was in another room. But that wasn't all.

It was a really big room. Even bigger than the room I was just in. It was about as tall as the last one, but it was way wider. And at the very top of the room was a small walkway that went from one side of the room to the other. It was to deep a fall from here to the ground, and I couldn't fly so I was stuck up here. But the floor down below had a few doors underneath.

I kept looking at the floor below, carefull about falling off. With all of those doors, maybe DD will or has come through here. And since I was still tired, I decided that here would be a good place to rest for now. Who knows, maybe it'll turn out alright after all. And maybe I'll find a crown or something next!

* * *

**And so ends this chapter! I hoped you all liked it, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all after EpicPie's chapter! So until then, have a great time!**

**Also, I'm going to leave the RQ thing as EpicPie's unique sign off. I mean, I have the QotC, so it's only fair that EpicPie get's his own sign off too right? And speaking of the QotC, here it is!**

**QotC: If you lived in Medieval Times, would you be a knight if you could? If not, than what would you like to be?**


	7. The Graves

Daring got up from the floor and brushed herself off. The toxic fumes had gone away, so she was able to breathe clean air. Judging from the light, she assumed daylight had left a short time ago. It was dark, but not pitch black. She began to walk forward, thinking about her encounter with the princess. _"Is it true?" _She thought to herself. _"Was that real or as it my mind playing tricks on me? It could have been an effect of the fumes released by that trap…" _She doubted that it was real, however real or not, it had sent her a message. She no longer was fearful, and instead was twice as courageous than before. As she walked forward, she pondered the matter more. But eventually, she gave up on trying to determine if it was real or not. It WAS the princess after all, but she was completely out of her mind at the time. So instead, as she walked along the seemingly endless hallway, _"Seriously, what is up with this castle and never-ending hallways..." , _She thought about what more surprises this place had in store for her _"Perhaps there might be-" _She was cut off as the floor beneath her broke, and she fell through. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed, crashing through the floor of various floors.

She woke up from being unconscious, lying in a pile of rubble and debris. She seemed to be at the very bottom of the castle. It was light out, which meant she had been out for quite a few hours. She groaned. She tried to fly up the hole, but realized her wings were still useless. That wasn't good. And she seemed to be a strange room. The clouds themselves were light from the day, but the light seemed to be trapped in them. Strangely, the room was pitch black. She looked around the rubble for her backpack, which must have fallen off in the fall. After rummaging around for a few minutes, she found it. Taking out a match and lighting it, she immediately wished she hadn't. The room was covered in skeletons, although some of them looked shockingly recent. To top it off, the room reeked with the smell of rotten flesh. Daring almost puked, but managed not to. Covering the floor of the room were gravestones, marked with various names. She walked over to a grave with a hole dug in front of it, and looked at the name. As soon as she saw it, she began to feel sick. Marked on the gravestone was:

_**Daring Do **_**  
1990-/ / / /**

The grave next to it also had a hole dug and not filled.  
_**Bravely Blue  
2000-/ / / /**_

She noticed the death dates on both were crossed out. But who had put them there? And how did they know who she and her brother were? She quickly looked around for an exit, but found none. She panicked. She had to find a way out, and fast. She looked around some more, and eventually found a crack in the wall. She knew this was her only way out. She quickly pulled a gravestone from the ground, ignoring the various bugs and worms scrambling out from under it. She used it to chip away at the cracked wall, trying to break through. Eventually, sweating and out of breath, she broke through and stumbled into the newly found hallway. Fortunately, it was a short hallway, and she came across a stairway. She tried to look up, but it did not seem to end. So, she did the only thing she could. She climbed.

**_ Earlier That Day… _**

_ Moving silently and swiftly, Shadow Bolt continued to stalk his prey. He was after a dust-yellow Pegasus with a grey mane. She wore a green shirt and an explorer hat. This one had made it farther than the other explorers he had seen before. The Pegasus wondered how his Unicorn friend was doing observing the young explorer who had come here with the one he was after. As she slept from the toxic fumes of his trap, he rummaged through the cloth she had brought. It was fashioned so that it could be worn on her back, and contained items. He wondered how her civilization had managed to survive with such low-class products. Upon searching her bag, he found her name and the name of what he assumed to be her brother. Daring Do and Bravely Blue. He then placed everything back, and returned to his hiding spot. When she awoke, he followed her. Then, she had gone and fallen perfectly into his next trap. He floated down on his wings, and found her knocked out at the bottom of the castle. She was only out for a few hours, however he was able to use a special cloud to make it appear as if it was day out. He then dug two graves in the tomb and wrote both their names on it, along with the birth dates he had found. When she awoke, his plan worked. Sort of. She had found the tombs and panicked, but just as he was about to attack, she picked up a tombstone. Thinking she had seen him and was going to attack, he slunk back into the corner of the room, the darkest place in there. Instead, she wacked the wall with her newly found tool, and broke through. Shadow cursed himself, and followed her. However, she had begun climbing the stairs, and to avoid being seen, he stayed behind. She would, after all, encounter more of the traps he had set ahead of here, just in case. But she would never get to the real treasure. She wouldn't get past the final challenge, if she ever made it there. Only one person had ever got that far. And that was Courage Do, the one who was still locked in the room of the final treasure. Every day Shadow would feed him just enough to keep him alive. It was his payback for what Courage had done to him and Dark Dusk._

** And that ends this chapter! I wanted to make this chapter longer than It originally was going to be (which was super short) so I decided to use my OC, Shadow Bolt, and my other OC, Dark Dusk. I will provide more information on them in later chapters, but for now they are MYSTERIOUS...  
Also I'd like to give a super-duper-ultra-huge-epic-pie filled shoutout to SirUnsheathedSparkle, A.K.A. Victorious Failure for doing a dramatic reading of Chapter 1. **

**His youtube name is SirUnsheathedSparkle, or, Victorious Failure. I would put a link, but not allowed to. .**

**Second shoutout goes to, yet again, Christ's Disciple, because he's answered almost every QotC and has become a regular here in the reviews section, and as well as a regular reader. So everybody, if you want a shoutout, hit that review button every couple of chapters or so, leave a helpful review, and you might find your name right here: _***

**Also, for those of you wondering, although Gamer will not be doing RQ, I will still be doing QotC, because as I said before, RQ will not be every chapter. Just clearing that up! And, on to the long-anticipated QotC: Do you have any OC's (Original Characters, for those of you unfamiliar with the term) you have created?**

**See you all in my next chapter!  
-EpicPie1  
**

***Disclaimer: Your name may or may not be in that exact location. Offer only valid in participating chapters. Limited time only.**


	8. Darkness Over Bravely

After a small two-hour nap, I woke up to see that nothing has changed. All the doors down there were all dusty and looked unopened, so I guess that DD never came through.

Standing up, I looked around the walkway I was on. The door with all the armor was still closed and sealed up. Again, I kept thinking back to those four things of armor. They all moved out-of-the-way as if they were alive and well. It was wired, and I kept getting the idea that there was some kind of reason I wasn't thinking about.

but ignoring it, I knew that I had to keep on keeping on. I started walking, getting to the door and going through without anything stopping me or slowing me down.

once I got through the door though is when I started to freak out. The whole room was pitch black darkness. So much, I couldn't even see two feet in front of my face. At least... Without the door open.

So I stood in the doorway and looked in, seeing how it was just a simple room with weird walkways. There were small paths that were divided from the rest of the floor with small lines of some red liquid. Just by standing in the doorway, I could tell that it smelled really gross. Like it was rotting in a way.

As I covered my nose, that's when it all began. Suddenly, I felt myself be bucked inside the room by some pony else. I knew it was a pony because it felt like hind hooves that knocked me in. I would know because it felt just like the one time a bully at school bucked me, only harder.

After being bucked out of the doorway by what looked to be nothing, the door started to close. I quickly got up and looked all around the room for something to stop the door, but all I could see were the red lines in the floor. The light from the doorway that was faintly shining off of the red liquid. That's when I realized that I was in a room that had lines all around it, making a path towards the other door. And the paths were lined with blood.

Fresh blood.

"NOOOOOO!" I called out, running towards the door that was closing by itself. But I was too late as I arrived at the door right after it closed, my side not having a handle or anything to open the door with. It was locked from the other side.

I quickly turned back to the room u was in, the smell of rotting blood already making me sick to my stomach. What pony made a room like this?! What pony would kick a colt into a room like this and lock him in?! Well I knew for a fact that it wasn't Daring Do, but if not her then who?! Who else would be in this castle?!

But I knew I needed to ignore that. They had to be in that last room, so I needed to get to the other door before they come back.

I remembered that the path lined with blood went around the room in a weird way and finally led to the door. But I didn't want to walk around in a weird path, and I didn't want to be anywhere near that blood, so I simply made a slow b-line for the door.

Which was a BIG mistake. The second I walked towards the door without following the path, the second the tile of floor that was right in front of me lit up in really hot fire.

I jumped back where the entrance was, so glad that it had an oval base around it that was wider than the small blood lined path. The oval base was lined with it too, but it was a few feet away from me so I was okay.

That was enough to make it all perfectly clear to me. If I was going to get out of this room without being cooked, I was going to have to follow the path. So with the fire out, I was left with only one way to go along the path without going off of it. Smell my way through it.

I gulped, knowing that I was going to hate all of this. But I knew that I had to. So I started, hating every second of it. The sooner I was out of here the better.

* * *

**? ? ? POV**

_After Shadow telling me to watch that Explorer's sidekick, I thought this was going to be so very easy. I didn't know I could be so wrong about something in my whole life._

_Once I spotted the sidekick, I saw that it was a young colt. He had been separated just like Shadow and me had planned to do, but it wasn't until I saw the colt after the two of them being separated that I saw how young he was._

_I had found him along the long hallway he landed in. He seemed to be a little anxious about both what seemed to be his first time helping with exploring, and being separated._

_What struck me as odd about it is that he called his leader 'DD'. The name was way more relaxed and almost for childish laughs, yet he used it even in a problem like this. I went ahead and assumed that they had to have a connection somehow. That might have been useful for later though._

_A while into his trip through the castle, I expected him to go ahead and get taken out by the original traps themselves. But after him surviving the fall from the trap we laid, the water trap, the floor falling out under him, and him guessing the right armor, I knew that he was going to have to be taken out by me._

_Only... I knew that it would be hard for me to finish him off myself. Of all the explorers that came to this castle, I never expected the one I had to follow be a young colt. Shadow's trusting me to take care of this colt, but I don't know how. The explorers in the past were never a problem to take care of, but this colt wouldn't be easy for me._

_So that just left one thing for me to do, have the castle take care of him itself. This wing of the castle was wired with so many ancient traps, and he was bound to fail at one eventually. He just needed a little push._

_So after succeeding in the armor room is where I began my plan. I used my magic to move the statues so he would be confused and a little scared of it. Then I used a 'Walk on All Surfaces' spell on myself to sneak around him and stand on the underside of the bridge where I would wait for him to continue to the next room._

_Shadow would've probably scolded me for not just pushing him off the bridge myself and being done with it all, but I still couldn't. So once he woke up, I took him off guard._

_Once he got to the other door, I walked up behind him and bucked him into the room with the element of surprise. I then quickly ran in behind him, walking on the walls and onto the ceiling where I am watching him go through the room. There were no traps on the walls and ceiling, so I was safe up here. And since the room was pitch dark, I was completely out of sight. Especially since he had to keep his head low to the ground so he knew where to go in this room._

_I kept getting the feeling of remorse for leaving him to have to follow the scent of rotting blood to get to the end of the room, but I just kept trying to shake that feeling away. If either of these two got to the main room, who knows what could happen then. It'd be game over, and the one thing we would have tried to hide from the outside world will be revealed. I couldn't let that happen. So for now, all I need to do now is wait and hope that this colt would meet his end by himself._

* * *

**_And so concludes this chapter!_ I really hope that all of you are liking the story so far! Also, I wanted to say sorry my taking so long on making this chapter! The story on my account has reached an important milestone on it, and I want to finish up that milestone for all the readers that keep up with that story! But I promise that once I finish up that part of my story, I will be dedicated to this story until the end!**

**So I hope that you all enjoy the story! Until next time every pony! This is 4428Gamer and I am out!**

**QotC: What's worse? Being trapped in a room with skeletons for a whole day, or being trapped in a room full of foul-smelling blood for a whole day?**

** (I know, dark question, but you don't have to answer if you don't want to)**


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